Issues we’re watching this session

We're two weeks into the 2021 Legislative Session and things are heating up! The deadline to introduce bills was Jan 27 so we (and all of our friends) have been sifting through thousands of bills and determining our priorities. While that process may still be underway, there are a few issues percolating to the top of our radar:

Energy

Good bills: Requiring solar on new homes and requiring Environmental Impact Statements for biomass energy projects.

Bills to watch: State Energy Office and PUC restructuring and audits, solar farms on agricultural lands and various carbon taxes.

Bad bills: Reducing the solar income tax credit and incentivizing "renewable" natural gas.

Sea Level Rise

Good bills: Sea level rise disclosure remains a top priority. Bills to support long-term planning for sea level rise adaptation and illegal shoreline hardening enforcement.

Watershed Protection

Good bills: Protecting streams and address the revocable permit exploitation.

Bad bills: Transferring watershed pasture lands away from DLNR.

Transportation

Good bills: Adopting 100% clean ground transportation goals.

Land Use

Bad bills: Weakening the Land Use Commission's authority over rezoning agricultural lands for housing development.

Environmental Justice:

Good bills: Creating an Environmental Justice Task Force in partnership with government agencies with an advisory board of EJ advocates, or an Environmental Council, to develop a mapping tool and audit to identify where there are state gaps. This is the first time we've seen a bill like this that attempts to tackle environmental (in)justices throughout our islands.

Be sure to sign up for legislative updates/alerts here and tune into hawaiicapitolwatch.org for more of our priorities and specific bill numbers.